via Press TV / November 9, 2013 / After coming under criticism for its handling of clean-up efforts, the operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant says it will double the pay of contract workers at the station. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) says hazard pay for thousands of workers will be increased from one hundred US dollars to two hundred US dollars a day. “It is extremely important to … Continue reading →
Continue readingBroc West
via The Guardian / November 8, 2013 / Gazing down at the glassy surface of the spent fuel pool inside the No 4 reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi, it is easy to underestimate the danger posed by the highly toxic contents of its murky depths. But this lofty, isolated corner of the wrecked nuclear power plant is now the focus of global attention as Japan enters the most critical stage … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia CommonDreams.org / November 5, 2013 / Preparations to begin the potentially catastrophic decommissioning of the crippled Reactor 4 at the Fukushima nuclear power plant will begin this week with a test run. The test, which could push back the beginning stages of fuel rod removal by two weeks, includes moving a “protective fuel cask” into and out of the No. 4 storage pool with a crane—before attempts are made … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / November 5, 2013 / With Tepco due to begin removing more than 1,300 spent-fuel rod assemblies and nearly 200 fresh ones from the reactor 4 pool at the Fukushima No. 1 plant this month, global pressure is mounting to allow an international task force to monitor and assist the highly hazardous operation. A former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland, anti-nuclear groups in Japan and abroad, nuclear engineers, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Guardian / November 7, 2013 / A video animation by the operators of the Fukushima plant, the Tokyo Electric Company, shows how 1,534 damaged fuel rods will be removed from the site. A robotic crane will move the rods from a storage pool damaged by March 2011′s earthquake and stored more securely in an on-site facility.
Continue readingvia NHK World / November 6, 2013 / The International Atomic Energy Agency is sending marine monitoring experts to Japan. They will advise on handling radioactive wastewater leaking into the sea from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The world nuclear watchdog says two members from its Marine Environment Laboratory in Monaco will stay in Japan from Wednesday through next week. The experts will visit Fukushima on Thursday and Friday. … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia JapanFocus.org / November 4, 2013 / With the third anniversary of Fukushima’s triple meltdown approaching, stories of incompetence and corruption in the nuclear cleanup are rife. A team of Reuters’ reporters working in Japan has researched working conditions at Fukushima Daiichi and decontamination jobs outside the plant. Their findings are shocking. Their report focuses on the testimony of three workers with different backgrounds: Hayashi Tetsuya, 41, whose case was … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia ENE News / Nov. 5, 2013 / The utility had intended to start removing the fuel rods from the unit’s packed cooling pool as early as Friday. The test was requested by the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization. The government-affiliated agency called for an initial test that would include transporting a protective fuel cask from the No. 4 storage pool to another pool in a different building about 100 … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Mainichi / Sep 26, 2013 / Fishery products caught off Fukushima Prefecture were ready for trial sale as early as Sept. 26 after fisheries cooperatives here resumed test fishing the day before. Some 5.2 tons of 11 varieties of fish — including octopus, horsehair crab, blackbelly rosefish and angler — were landed at the Matsukawaura Port in Soma, northern Fukushima Prefecture, after 21 dragnet fishing boats returned there … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia News on Japan / Sep 26, 2013 / The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says underwater barriers in the facility’s port have been breached. The so-called silt fences are intended to prevent the spread of radioactive materials. Tokyo Electric Power Company officials said on Thursday they found damage in the curtain-like barriers near the intake canals of the No. 5 and 6 reactors. The silt fences … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / Sep 25, 2013 / The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says it will soon test a filtration system that could remove most radioactive substances from accumulated wastewater at the site. The Advanced Liquid Processing System (pictured) is the key to Tokyo Electric Power Company’s plans to purify radioactive-contaminated water that keeps accumulating at the plant. The company hopes to completely decontaminate the stored waste … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Independent Web Journal / Sep 24, 2013 / The radioactive discharge problem at Tepco’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is bringing worldwide attention to Japan’s ability to deal with the continuing crisis at Fukushima. PRESS CONFERENCE 9/24 Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan: Gregory Jaczko, Former Chairman, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Torgen Johnson, Citizens’ Representative, San Diego Forum Tetsuro Tsutsui, Member Nuclear Regulation Sub-committee, Citizens’ Commission on Nuclear Energy (CCNE) … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / Sep 24, 2013 / Fishing operations off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture were set to resume Wednesday, about a month after leaks of contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant forced trial operations to be put on hold. The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations said Tuesday that “through tests we know the radioactive levels of the fish are not an issue and … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / Re: “Fukushima and the right to responsible government” by Colin P.A. Jones (The Foreign Element, Sept. 17): It would be useful if the government of Japan would avail themselves of the assistance and technology that could be provided by foreign corporations with experience in the decommissioning of nuclear plants. The United States successfully cleaned and decommissioned nuclear facilities at Hanford, Washington, Rocky Flats, Colorado, and Portsmouth, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia worldbulletin.net / Sep 23, 2013 / The Mayor of Tokyo, Naoki Inose, has indicated that the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lied to the International Olympic Committee when he reassured them that contaminated water leaking from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant were “under control.” Inose publicly denounced the Japanese Prime Minister’s claim after telling reporters from Fuji TV that the water leak was “not necessarily under control” on Friday. Shinzo … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia EX-SKF / Sep 23, 2013 / As Japan celebrates “recovery” (at least in the stock market), 2020 Tokyo Olympic, maglev bullet train that will run under Japan Alps, there are still 100 people from Futaba-machi, Fukushima still living in the abandoned high school building in Saitama Prefecture, more than two and a half years after the earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear accident struck Tohoku and Kanto. Time has … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Asahi Shimbun / Sep 21, 2013 / TEPCO, resigned to never restarting its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as concerns grow over radioactive leaks, will turn the facility into a training base for decommissioning reactors. The plant operator has begun considering turning the 42-year-old plant into what would be called a “decommissioning center,” sources said Sept. 20. The new role for the plant will be included in … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Asahi Shimbun / Sep 21, 2013 / TEPCO, resigned to never restarting its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as concerns grow over radioactive leaks, will turn the facility into a training base for decommissioning reactors. The plant operator has begun considering turning the 42-year-old plant into what would be called a “decommissioning center,” sources said Sept. 20. The new role for the plant will be included in … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Japan Times / Sep 22, 2013 / Radioactive cesium has been found on an estimated 200 to 300 tons of wood chips that were left months ago near Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, prefectural officials said. Samples of the chips show a reading of up to 3,000 becquerels per kilogram, the officials said Tuesday. The readings are below 8,000 becquerels, the threshold requiring special measures such as keeping … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Japan Times / Sep 22, 2013 / Radioactive cesium has been found on an estimated 200 to 300 tons of wood chips that were left months ago near Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, prefectural officials said. Samples of the chips show a reading of up to 3,000 becquerels per kilogram, the officials said Tuesday. The readings are below 8,000 becquerels, the threshold requiring special measures such as keeping … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Asahi Shimbun / Sep 21, 2013 / In the wee hours of Sept. 20, a strong earthquake measuring a 5-plus on the Japanese seismic scale struck Fukushima Prefecture. Its epicenter was in the Hamadori area in the eastern part of the prefecture, where the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located. Even though it caused no damage to the some 1,000 storage tanks within the plant … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Asahi Shimbun / Sep 21, 2013 / In the wee hours of Sept. 20, a strong earthquake measuring a 5-plus on the Japanese seismic scale struck Fukushima Prefecture. Its epicenter was in the Hamadori area in the eastern part of the prefecture, where the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located. Even though it caused no damage to the some 1,000 storage tanks within the plant … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Huffington Post / Sep 20, 2013 / Charles B. Perrow is an emeritus professor of sociology at Yale University and visiting professor at Stanford University. Recent disclosures of tons of radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima reactors spilling into the ocean are just the latest evidence of the continuing incompetence of the Japanese utility, TEPCO. The announcement that the Japanese government will step in is also not reassuring since … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Japan Times / Sep 19, 2013 / Wearing a protective suit to guard against radioactive contamination, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe entered the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant Thursday to inspect the desperate effort to stop tainted water from entering the soil and the Pacific. Abe visited the site in an apparent publicity stunt to demonstrate his determination to get the water crisis under control. An estimated 300 … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia EX-SKF / Sep 21, 2013 / To win 2020 Olympic for Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared to the world that his government will be “at the forefront” to deal with problems at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Reading the article by Nikkei Shinbun about his most recent visit to the plant and comments from his ministers, it sure looks all talk, nothing but talk. From Nikkei Shinbun … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / Sep 20, 2013 / A strong earthquake jolted Fukushima Prefecture northeastern Japan, shortly before 2:30 AM on Friday. The Meteorological Agency says the preliminary magnitude was 5.3 and the focus was 17 kilometers underground in the eastern coastal part of Fukushima. The quake measured 5 plus in Iwaki City on the Japanese intensity scale of 7. Two local women reported slight injuries. An intensity of 5 … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia ENENews.com / Sep 18, 2013 / We have been conducting an on-site inspection for seismic safety evaluation on the exhaust stack for Units 1 and 2 at Fukushima Daiichi NPS. Today (on September 18), in the inspection, we found fracture-like traces on steel members (diagonal bracings) of the exhaust stack (pictured). Since the area around the exhaust stack includes a location with a high dose rate, we will start … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Real Time / Sep 18, 2013 / Recent decisions by two local fishing cooperatives to delay a resumption of fishing near the Fukushima nuclear plant highlight the confusion over ocean contamination. The cooperatives decided not to fish in the area because they have no hope of selling their catch, not because marine life in the area is unsafe to eat. The decisions suggest it is the perception of … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Channel News Asia / Sep 16, 2013 / Typhoon Man-yi hit Japan on Monday, leaving two people dead and forcing the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to release rainwater with low levels of radiation into the ocean. The powerful typhoon made landfall in Toyohashi, Aichi prefecture, shortly before 8:00am (2300 GMT Sunday), packing gusts of up to 162 kilometres (100 miles) per hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Daily Press / Sep 16, 2013 / In addition to TEPCO’s problem with how to manage the radioactive water from the defunct Fukushima nuclear plant, it was found that there still remain about 150,000 tons of radioactive waste that has not been properly stored. Besides contaminated soil, among those collected were contaminated branches and leaves, accounting for about 30 percent of waste that resulted from the reactor meltdowns. … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / Sep 16, 2013 / Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are preparing for the approaching storm. They are increasing patrols to make sure contaminated water does not overflow in the heavy rain. Strong tropical storm Man-yi is expected to approach Japan’s northeastern Fukushima Prefecture on Monday. By Sunday afternoon, it has already brought heavy rain fall of 41.5 millimeters per hour in a town … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Press TV / Sep 15, 2013 / Japan is to start the process of switching off its last working nuclear reactor with no firm date set for the potential restart of the reactor. Kansai Electric Power will gradually take offline the No. 4 reactor at its Oi nuclear plant (pictured) in Fukui prefecture in western Japan for routine safety inspections. The move will leave the world’s third largest economy … Continue reading →
Continue readingDr Helen Caldicott is one of the most articulate and passionate advocates of citizen action to remedy the nuclear and environmental crises. via RT.com / Sep 13, 2013 / Bio-accumulation of radioactive elements around Fukushima will devastate many future Japanese generations, while the Pacific Ocean is also being contaminated by leaking radioactive water. Yet there is still no good solution from the Japanese government. As I watched the tsunami power … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / Sep 14, 2013 / The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says that it found sharply rising tritium levels at a monitoring well near a waste water storage tank. Tokyo Electric Power Company says the level of radioactive tritium at one of the wells rose to 130,000 becquerels per liter on Thursday. That’s more than twice the government-set level for its release into the … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia TEPCO.co.jp / Detailed Analysis Results on Groundwater around Units 1 to 4 at Fukushima Daiichi NPS (Results of Measurement around Units 1 and 2)(Follow-up Information 2). We conducted a purification test of wells (sub-drain pits) located next to the Units 1-4 buildings at Fukushima Daiichi NPS, and detected radioactive materials in water accumulated in the pits. One possible cause of the entrance of radioactive materials there is fallout. We … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Wall Street Journal / Sep 13, 2013 / Two and a half years after the disastrous nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan is finally reaching out to the international community for help in grappling with a challenging cleanup operation and improving its response to global fears over contaminated water leaking from the stricken power plant. Tepco invited a U.S. nuclear expert this week as outside adviser for the decommissioning process. … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia euronews.com / Sep 13, 2013 / A senior official from the company which operates the stricken nuclear power plant at Fukushima in Japan has admitted that the situation there is “not under control”. However, within hours Tepco released a statement saying the official, Kazuhiko Yamashita, meant to say something different. His comments came in response to a question at a meeting with the opposition Democratic Party. The politician asked … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Fukuleaks.org / Sep 11, 2013 / TEPCO plans to begin removing spent fuel from unit 4 this fall. This effort only came about after ongoing public outcry over the danger the damaged pool posed. The effort was accelerated and the de-fueling building installed this spring and summer. This will be the first of some very high risk work at the plant but is little understood by the public. How … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / Sep 12, 2013 / In just three days, readings of tritium in groundwater near the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant have soared more than 15 times, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant admitted. Results of recently tested water taken from the well some 20 meters south from a number of storage tanks have showed that levels of tritium have now reached 64,000 becquerels per liter. Back … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Reuters / Sep 10, 2013 / Fukushima nuclear plant operator Tepco Electric’s response to the world’s worst atomic disaster in a quarter century has been called ad hoc and more concerned with cost than safety, but 30 months later, the utility is still in charge. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in the centerpiece of Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics, said he would be personally responsible for a … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / Sep 10, 2013 / One question that emerged among the public immediately after Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Olympics was whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an incorrect statement, or told an outright lie, about the contaminated water issue at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. During the Tokyo bid delegation’s final presentation before the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires on Saturday, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / Sep 11, 2013 / More than 215,000 people are still living away from home in 3 Japanese prefectures 2-and-a-half years after the March 11 disaster. On this day 30 months ago, a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan. The National Police Agency says 15,883 people are confirmed to have died in the disaster and 2,654 remain unaccounted for. The Reconstruction Agency says 2,688 people fell … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Fukuleaks.org / Sep 9, 2013 / TEPCO consultant Dale Klein told Der Spiegel that the ongoing water crisis at Fukushima Daiichi will be an ongoing problem for another decade. The plant will be out of tanks in November on top of the dire need to replace all of the bolt together tanks at the plant since they were discovered to be leaking already. Generating even more water for at … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Al Jazeera / Sep 8, 2013 / In March 2011, a tsunami hit Japan, killing almost 19,000 people and crippling the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The shutting down of the plant removed thousands of megawatts from the country’s power grid – but that was just the beginning of the problems caused by Fukushima’s meltdown. Continuing fears about food safety are destroying the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen who have … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Press TV / Sep 4, 2013 / Recent radiation readings at Japan’s crippled Fukushima plant depict that the level of radioactive water leak from the site has reached its highest level ever, officials say. Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) announced the radiation level of the water leak at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) was as high as 2,200 millisieverts (mSv) (20 percent) on Wednesday, while it was … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Press TV / Sep 2, 2013 / Japan’s nuclear watchdog says contaminated water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant will have to be released into the ocean eventually. Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) Chairman Shunichi Tanaka made the statement during a governmental session held in response to growing concerns about the plant operator’s ability to deal with a worsening water crisis. He also said the water would be discharged once … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia JapanFocus.org / Sep 1, 2013 / by Andrew DeWit and Christopher Hobson / Japan’s searing summer of 2013 saw the lid slide further off Fukushima Daiichi and its Pandora’s box of radioactive and political crises. The company in charge, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), already Japan’s most distrusted firm,2 was irredeemably exposed as dangerously incompetent. A slew of reports concerning leaks of high-level radiation led to increasingly concerned appeals, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / Sep. 1, 2013 / Several new hotspots reading potentially lethal doses of radiation have been detected near the tanks storing the radioactive water, forcing the operator to admit there might be even more leaks at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. The high radiation readings were detected during the daily inspection on Saturday near three water tanks and one pipe stretched between the tanks and the plant, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Press TV / Aug 29, 2013 / Japan’s nuclear regulator says the impact of the radiation-contaminated water leaks at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is not known and it needs to be monitored more closely. The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said on Thursday that Fukushima plant leaks cannot be stopped instantly, warning that the level of monitoring is not enough. “We cannot fully stop contaminated water leaks … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia SMH.com.au / Aug 27, 2013 / The Japanese government has lost patience with the efforts of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to get the crippled reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant under control. Toshimitsu Motegi, the minister of trade and industry, visited the plant on Monday to determine progress on decommissioning three reactors damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in March, 2011. Tepco admitted last week that hundreds … Continue reading →
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